Oil crisis threatens beer as well as beaches

Oh dear. It looks like a mess has been made in the Gulf of Mexico. Let’s hope things gets cleared up quickly –  and not just because of those sorry looking seabirds and the poor folk paying the awful price for a bungling BP.

If the “special relationship” between Blighty and the Yanks deteriorates much further, there may be some kind of unfortunate trade embargo. No more The Wire, no more George Foreman’s Grilling Machine and, worse still, no more awesome American beer.

American beer has been widely ridiculed by unenlightened British beer drinkers in the past. “Why is American beer served cold?” they ask. “So you can distinguish it from urine” they chuckle. There’s an even ruder gag about making love in a canoe. Google it if you must.

Such delicately-honed satire and sarcasm, however, is woefully misplaced. Uncle Sam is a true beer guy – and not just because he’s red of face, glazed of eye and with somewhat ambitious facial hair.

America is the most exciting brewing nation on the planet. That’s pretty much a fact. The late and great beer writer Michael Jackson was saying as much 10 years ago – “American cities now offer a diversity of beer-styles far greater than that to be found in any single European country” – but it’s only now that we Brits are really beginning to notice.

Not since the late 19th century has the American beer scene been more bountiful.

While mainstream beer is down 2.2% every year, 2009 saw sales of craft beer soar by 7.2% in volume and 10.3% in value. The number of US breweries, meanwhile, currently stands at more than 1,500 – the highest since pre-Prohibition.

America’s magical microbrewery movement has long been mischievously poking its mashfork into the sides of big, bland brewing and, more recently, it released a remarkable video that captured the passion of those who shape it.

Greg Koch, founder of Stone Brewing in San Diego and a voraciously vocal proponent of American craft beer, said: “These are unprecedented times for American beer. No other nation can rival America in terms of diversity and creative passion.

Having successfully risen above the lowest common denominator forces of bland beer, the American craft beer culture is spreading around the world,” he said.

It’s been a remarkable renaissance. As late as the early 1980s, there were just 40 breweries slaking the thirst of 240 million Americans with the same yellow fizzy beer, yet a genuine backlash in the eighties ensued and, enamoured by trips to Europe and increased imports, microbrewers, mostly mushrooming in more enlightened areas of America, began brewing beers with integrity not adjuncts.

In 1980s Britain, traditional beer styles had begun fading into obscurity on this side of the Atlantic, such as porter or authentic colonial India Pale Ale. But. on the other side, they’ve been revived with an American accent. They’re bigger, they’re brasher and boast balls so big, they have to be carted about in a big wheelbarrow.

The brewing masters of Europe may have aroused America’s microbrew movement but, today, it’s the Belgians, Brits and Germans that are seeking Stateside inspiration and instruction. US brewers are inventing entirely new beer styles; fusing old techniques with modern approaches borrowed from winemaking and distilling; melding art, science and history in the mash-tun; and joyfully pushing the envelope like a postman on a mix of Valium and steroids.

American pale ales and American IPAs hike up the hop bitterness; the brown ales tend to be sweeter; the stouts are stouter and the Belgian-style fruit beers fashioned by Americans find themselves far more fruity and funky. While extreme examples have been deemed overly adventurous by some critics, they’re never dull or forgettable.

And thanks to an export initiative undertaken by the Brewers Association, representing the vast majority of small breweries in the US, a growing number of craft brews are being shuffled onto supermarket shelves and ushered in the fridge doors of Britain’s broader thinking bars and pubs. Some blinkered Brits may not bemoan the fact that so few Americans have passports but we should be high-fiving ourselves that their incredible craft brewing scene is becoming more accessible.

Courtesy of importers such as Vertical Drinks and James Clay, the likes of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Anchor Steam and Brooklyn Lager have enjoyed a British bottled presence for quite some years now and are now making draught debuts in a number of venues.

“They (US brewers) reinvent the past and use a riot of well-grown, well kept ingredients which shout flavour, excitement and devil-may-care style,” said Nigel Stevenson of James Clay, a major importer of American beers. “Why did Australian wines do so well in the UK 10 years ago? Because their flavours were fresh and exuberant and their wine makers were happy to come over here and to promote their wines in an amusing, friendly and engaging manner. That is exactly the same as what US brewers can do. They have the advantage over Aussie wines in that so many of them have real depth as well.”

As British beer horizons broaden and word of American beers spreads beyond in-the-know beer boffins, what started as a ripple has turned into a wave of American imports and – despite the economic climate – more are likely to follow.

Steve Holt of Vertical Drinks added: “Sales were affected by the devaluation of the pound against the US dollar at the start of the year which resulted in a substantial increase in retail price. However this was short lived proving that consumers who were initially discouraged by higher retail prices are returning to the beers which they appreciate and enjoy, despite the premium price tag.”

Relatively recent American arrivals include the hugely hoppy ales from Stone Brewing in San Diego; a Pennsylvanian purveyor of  awesome ales called Victory; and the beers from Flying Dog Brewery, once of Colorado and now ensconced on the East Coast, which were adored by Hunter S Thompson and come adorned with labels designed by Ralph Steadman.

Port Brewing, who specialise in wood-ageing and artisan after-dinner elixirs, is another incredibly creative brewer to dust down its passport while Odell, a much admired brewer from Colorado making some beautifully balanced hop-laden beers, is the latest craft brewer to give Great British drinker the glad-eye with a 90 Shilling Ale, 5 Barrel Pale Ale, IPA and the marvellously mellifluous Cutthroat Porter, IPA.

And then there’s the Dogfish Head brewery from Delaware – an extraordinarily ambitious ale-maker, even by American standards. Owner Sam Calagione’s “off-centred ales for off-centred people” include a replica of a beery residue discovered in the tomb of King Midas and an ancient oriental barley wine brewed with Muscat grapes and Chrysanthemum flowers. Five of his beers are now available in Britain including the superb Palo Santa Marron, an after-dinner ale aged in Paraguayan wood barrels.  

Yet perhaps the American beer making the biggest gains in the British market is Blue Moon, a Belgian-style wheat beer that is served with a wedge of orange and is backed by Coors Brewers as part of its Different World division. First brewed in 1995 by Denver’s Sandlot Brewery, a pilot brewery set up by Coors, Blue Moon became the fastest selling beer in the States and is gaining a strong trade and consumer following in the UK. It began life in bottles but its unpasteurised draught version is now a priority and gaining impressive traction in the premium on-trade.

“At a time when drinkers are yearning for a choice of beers with authenticity, integrity, flavour and a story to tell,” said Greg Koch, “British supermarkets and pubs can ill afford to ignore what is the most exciting and adventurous brewing nation on the planet."

Ben McFarland, 18.06.2010